Fargo Davies' Fargo Shanley's Cam Saville dishes off a pass against Fargo Davies' Shane Anderson and Ty Satter during the North Dakota East Region boys basketball tournament on Thursday, March 1, 2018, in the Scheels Center at the Sanford Health Athletic Complex. David Samson / The Forum

FARGO—Fargo Shanley senior Jake Kava left the game with more than eight minutes remaining in the second half with a grimace on his face after banging his knee with a Fargo Davies defender. By the end of the game, Kava's pained looked turned into a smile.

Cam Saville and Kava combined for 32 points to lead the Deacons to a 60-54 victory against the top-seeded Eagles on Thursday in the East Region boys basketball semifinals at Scheels Center at Sanford Health Athletic Complex.

"We knew we were the underdogs," Kava said. "It was a feeling of relief and definite joy."

The Deacons (16-7) advanced to the region championship game, which is scheduled for 7:45 p.m. Saturday. They also earned a trip to next week's North Dakota Class A state tournament in Fargo.

Davies (20-3) is scheduled to play in a state-qualifying game against Grand Forks Red River at 11 a.m. Saturday. The Eagles had won the previous two East Region tournaments.

"We're a young team and we've got to line up on Saturday, and if they want to go to state, they're going to have to line up and play hard," Davies head coach Bart Manson said. "Right now, I think some of them are feeling sorry for themselves because the shot is not falling. You can't do that. You've got to go out and you've got to play the game."

The 6-foot-5 Saville finished with a game-high 18 points and also grabbed six rebounds. He scored back-to-back buckets with less than five minutes to play to give the Deacons the lead for good. The second score gave Shanley a 54-50 lead with 3 minutes, 22 seconds remaining.

"We were really mentally locked in," Saville said. "We came out and played hard."

The 6-foot-3 Kava left the game with 8:22 remaining after hitting his knee. He went to the floor in pain with his team holding a 41-39 lead. Kava said it was the same knee he injured during the football season and thought he would be able to return to the game.

"It was just the initial shock of the pain," Kava said.

Kava returned minutes later and sank a 15-foot jumper that gave the Deacons a 50-45 lead with 5:50 remaining. He scored Shanley's final four points to help ice the outcome, including two free throws with 26 seconds to play. Kava finished with 14 points, five rebounds and three assists.

"We knew we would pick him up after he went down," Saville said of Kava. "He came back in the game and it was really good to see."

Shanley locked down on defense down the stretch, limiting Davies to two points in the game's final three minutes.

"I think it was definitely our energy," Saville said. "We got a lot of energy off the bench and we talked a lot on defense."

Mitch Larson and Braeton Motschenbacher paced Davies with 13 points each. The Eagles shot 33 percent (19 of 56) from the field. Shanley was a shade better, shooting 38 percent (21 of 55) from the floor.